UnCensered: The Prokhorov College Lax Big Board

Brian Farrell's got the physical tools to be higher on
Joel Censer's mock big board ranking current collegians, but his
disappearance in a big game has Farrell at No. 32.

I’ve always found it interesting that some players who
were studs in college sports are unable to translate that success
to the professional ranks.

Count among them 2001 Heisman winner Eric Crouch, who made a
career of torching opponents at Nebraska, but couldn’t even
play third string in NFL Europe. Former USC quarterback Matt
Leinhart was a can’t-miss, Heisman-winning lefty bomber, who
has spent his first five years in the NFL carrying Kurt
Warner’s clipboard and making news mainly for off-the-field
exploits (in the Deadspin era, it’s probably not particularly
smart to be photographed in a hot tub with a bunch of
co-eds).

In basketball, Michigan State point guard Mateen Cleaves led the
Spartans to a national championship in 2000 and nabbed Most
Outstanding Player in the process, but has since found himself
playing maestro for D-league squads in Bakersfield, Calif., and
Fayetteville, N.C.

There are obvious parallels in entertainment as well. David Caruso
left "NYPD Blue" to make movies and, after some well-documented
flops, came back to television, tail tucked, to star in a CSI
spinoff. "Saved by the Bell" star Tiffani Amber Thiessen had every
pre-adolescent boy at her fingertips as the wholesome Kelly
Kapowski, but couldn’t hold her own playing opposite Pauly
Shore in "Son in Law."

Clearly, there’s no shortage of athletes (or actors) who
could impose their wills at a lower level of competition but, when
asked to perform on a bigger stage, weren’t able to bring the
requisite amount of heat. Some got injured (Dajuan Wagner, Sam
Bowie, Kijana Carter); some had physical limitations that
couldn’t be overcome (Crouch was only 6 feet tall and
didn’t have a big arm); and some were drafted as raw athletic
wonders and never developed the required skill sets to compete at a
higher level. (Yes, Matt Jones, Darrius Heyward-Bey and Jamarcus
Russell, I am looking at you).

Others might have had neither the temperament nor the maturity
to deal with the burdens that come with being a professional
athlete (Joe Forte, Cade McNown, Charles
Rodgers).

Whatever the cause, watching Maryland stud longstick midfielder
Brian Farrell struggle during the first half against Virginia three
weeks ago, I wondered whether the Terp pole -- like Cleaves and
Crouch -- was best suited for the college game. I was used to
seeing the 6’4", 220-pound Terp LSM be the team’s
catalyst, the guy who -- despite not being particularly fleet of
foot -- was almost without peer at generating transition and
handling the rock.

But against the Cavs, a team that has speed all over the field,
Farrell uncharacteristically turned the ball over on multiple
occasions.

Whether or not Farrell’s miscues could be attributed to
the game’s pace or just a bad half (by the end of the game he
was back to making game-changing, no-look passes), I don’t
know. But it got me thinking about if there was a professional
lacrosse league that paid their players enough money where it would
be their only job and where everyone needed to rigorously train to
stay in the league, which collegiate players would translate best?
Would the sports’ top players from college continue to be the
best players professionally? Or instead, because the
professional game would inevitably be much faster, would different
guys with specific skills sets (think left tackles in the NFL)
become far more important?

My guess (and it’s somewhat of an educated one, having
watched attackman Brendan Mundorf and Matt Striebel’s rise in
the MLL) would be that offensive players who have the stick skills
to keep the ball moving quickly in six-on-six offense and the
athleticism to consistently create separation from a long pole
would be in very high demand (in part because, unlike finishers,
they are pretty rare).

How else could you attack a defense filled with amazing athletes
except by having a lot of different guys who have the potential to
win a one-on-one matchup (maybe with Canadian two-man games)?

Another trait that would be a priority for teams to acquire
would be superior athleticism and/or skill from players who work in
between the lines -- faceoff men and long stick middies in
particular. At this level, the likelihood a team will score is
probably pretty high, so anyway to influence the possession battle
would be crucial.

And maybe one day there will be a college lacrosse draft where
teams can fork over the type of money that would encourage players
to focus fulltime on the sport and -- for better or for worse --
leave college early to play. Personally, I’m hoping Mikhail
Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire and the new owner of the New
Jersey Nets, whose passion for European models, extreme sports and
owning pro teams has been well documented, sees a lax game soon.
Seriously, what if on the way to a Nets game, Prokhorov
accidentally went west on Route 78 and ended up watching
Summit-Delbarton?

I can only imagine what he’d think.

“This game is rough. Metal sticks hitting people. It
reminds me of that time I had to bargain the Chechens down about
that oil pipeline. I want a team of my own. Now.”

Anyway, should this happen, I certainly want to be only a Google
search away from becoming his head of scouting. So channeling my
best Mel Kiper impersonation, I put the hair gel on thick and did
my best to rank current collegians. As mentioned, I ranked guys
higher based on their skill set (prioritizing players who could
generate offense and/or would be significant factors in between the
lines) and how they would respond to what would be a faster game.
So without further ado, here is my first annual Mikhail Prokhorov
college lacrosse big board!